Jesus our Model(This is a series of essays on various teachings of LORD/Jesus other than Sermon on the Mount, and on how Jesus lived his life on Earth.) |
Jesus : Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. [Mt 5:17-20]
(Note : Law is the bottom line where one must not transgress. The scribes and Pharisees would not transgress such. But Christians should do better than that.)
LORD : Were I to write for him my laws by ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. [Hos 8:12]
Jesus to his disciples the night he was arrested :
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. [John 15:9-10]
(Note :
|
LORD to David about Solomon :
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your son after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men; but I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. [2 Sam 7:12-15]
LORD : I will chasten you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. [Jer 30:11]
(Note : Moreover, the punishment may be very painful.)
LORD :
Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous. There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant.
Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you. [Jer 30:12-15]
(Note : LORD would usually not punish us the first time we transgress.)
LORD : For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment , .... [Amos 1,2]
LORD : If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will repent of the good which I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem : 'Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doing.' [Jer 18:7-11]
LORD : If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall last to the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last to the time for sowing; and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land securely. And I will give peace in the land, ...
But if you will not hearken to me, and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, I will do this to you : I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it; I will set my face against you, and you shall be smitten before your enemies; ....
But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery which they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity; then I will remember my covenant with Issac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ... [Lev 26]
LORD : .... but when they had fed to the full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. So I will be to them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rend them. I will destroy you, O Israel; who can help you? [Hosea 13:4-10]
(Note : Very often, when we are well off, we will become proud and break LORD's Laws, and this will bring great calamities on ourselves, see [Deut 32:23] LORD : And I will heap evils upon them; I will spend my arrows upon them; ... . Therefore let us Fear the LORD, and walk carefully not to break His Laws.)
LORD : If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I put upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD, your healer. [Ex 15:26]
LORD's word to Joshua : Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the LORD your GOD is with you wherever you go." [Joshua 1:2-9]
(Note : Many people would think that LORD will not act, so they despise LORD's Laws and do whatever they like. Therefore bringing upon themselves terrible sickness/calamities.
|
Jesus : See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. [Mt 18:10]
Jesus : And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. [Mt 10:28-33]
(Note : Some people would question in their mind : Jesus must be exaggerating in this : our hair are nearly uncountable!
But LORD is TRUTH. Everything under the universe obeys Laws created by LORD - down to atoms and electrons in an atom. Thus LORD's presence fills the whole Universe. It is true that LORD can count the hairs of our head. See how many insects and animals and birds and fish LORD created.)
Jesus : Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what
you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what
you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more
than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor
reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by
being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are
you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But
if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive
and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more
clothe you, O men of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious,
saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or
"What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek all these
things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things shall be yours as well.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for
the day.
| [Previous] | [Home] | [Next] |